Plutarch, Quaestiones Romanae, Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator), 96

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[96] Why do they inflict no other punishment on those of the Holy Maidens¹ who have been seduced, but bury them alive?²

Is it because they cremate their dead, and to use fire in the burial of a woman who had not guarded the holy fire in purity was not right?

Or did they believe it to be against divine ordinance to annihilate a body that had been consecrated by the greatest of lustra! ceremonies, or to lay hands upon a holy woman? Accordingly they devised that she should die of herself; they conducted her underground into a chamber built there, in which had been placed a lighted lamp, a loaf of bread, and some milk and water. Thereafter they covered over the top of the chamber with earth. And yet not even by this manner of avoiding the guilt have they escaped their superstitious fear, but even to this day the priests proceed to this place and make offerings to the dead.

Quaestiones Romanae. Plutarch. Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1936.

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Current edition Perseus

The Roman Questions (English) (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. IV. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).)

Editions (2)

Αἴτια Ῥωμαϊκά Perseus (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. IV. Babbitt, Frank Cole, editor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).) — 96 focus

[96] διὰ τί τῶν παναγῶν παρθένων τὰς διαφθαρείσας 286f ἄλλως οὐ κολάζουσιν, ἀλλὰ ζώσας κατορύττουσι;

πότερον ὅτι καίουσι τοὺς ἀποθανόντας, θάπτειν δὲ πυρὶ τὴν τὸ πῦρ τὸ θεῖον ὁσίως μὴ φυλάξασαν οὐκ ἦν δίκαιον;

ἢ σῶμα ταῖς μεγίσταις καθωσιωμένον ἁγιστείαις ἀναιρεῖν καὶ προσφέρειν ἱερᾷ γυναικὶ χεῖρας οὐ θεμιτὸν ἐνόμιζον; αὐτὴν οὖν ἀποθανεῖν μηχανώμενοι διʼ αὑτῆς, κατεβίβαζον ὑπὸ γῆν εἰς οἴκημα πεποιημένον, ὅπου καὶ λύχνος ἔκειτο καιόμενος καὶ ἄρτος καὶ γάλακτός τι καὶ ὕδατος εἶτα 287a γῇ τὸ οἴκημα κατέκρυπτον ἄνωθεν. καὶ οὐδὲ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ἀφοσιωσάμενοι τὴν δεισιδαιμονίαν ἐκπεφεύγασιν, ἀλλὰ μέχρι νῦν ἐναγίζουσιν οἱ ἱερεῖς ἐκεῖ βαδίζοντες ἐπὶ τὸν τόπον.

Κεφαλαίων καταγραφή Ῥωμαϊκά Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol IΙ. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1889.) — 96 focus

[96] διὰ τί τῶν παναγῶν παρθένων τὰς διαφθαρείσας 286f ἄλλως οὐ κολάζουσιν, ἀλλὰ ¹ ζώσας κατορύττουσι; πότερον ὅτι καίουσι τοὺς ἀποθανόντας, θάπτειν δὲ πυρὶ τὴν τὸ πῦρ τὸ θεῖον ὁσίως μὴ φυλάξασαν 15 οὐκ ἦν δίκαιον· ἢ σῶμα ταῖς μεγίσταις καθωσιωμένον ἁγιστείαις ἀναιρεῖν καὶ προσφέρειν ἱερᾷ γυναικὶ χεῖρας οὐ θεμιτὸν ἐνόμιζον; αὐτὴν οὖν ἀποθανεῖν μηχανώμενοι διʼ αὑτῆς, κατεβίβαζον ὑπὸ γῆν εἰς οἴκημα πεποιημένον, ὅπου καὶ λύχνος ἔκειτο 20 καιόμενος καὶ ἄρτος καὶ γάλακτός τι καὶ ὕδατος· 287a εἶτα γῇ τὸ οἴκημα κατέκρυπτον ἄνωθεν. καὶ οὐδὲ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ἀφοσιωσάμενοι τὴν δεισιδαιμονίαν ἐκπεφεύγασιν, ἀλλὰ μέχρι νῦν ἐναγίζουσιν οἱ ἱερεῖς ἐκεῖ βαδίζοντες ἐπὶ τὸν τόπον.

Translations (1)

Roman Questions Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. II. Goodwin, William W., editor; Chauncy, Isaac translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.) — 96 focus

[96]

Question 96.

Why do they inflict no other punishment on Vestal Virgins, when they are defiled, than burying them alive?

Solution. Is this the reason, because they burn the dead, and to bury her by fire who hath not preserved sacred the divine fire would be unjust? Or was it that they judged it a wicked act to cut off a person sanctified by the greatest ceremonial purification, and to lay hands on a holy woman; and therefore they contrived a machine for her to die in of herself, and let her down into a vault made under ground, where was placed a candle burning, also some bread and milk and water, and then the den was covered with earth on top? Neither by this execrable manner of devoting them are they exempt from superstition; but to this day the priests going to the place perform purgatory rites.

Notes on the current edition

The Roman Questions

1. Plutarch elsewhere uses a similar expression ( παρθένος ἱέρεια) for the vestal virgins, e.g. in his Life of Publicola, chap. viii. (101 b) or Moralia, 89 e.

2. Cf. Life of Numa, chap. x. (67 a-c); Ovid, Fasti, vi. 457-460; Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities, ii. 67. 4, viii. 89. 5; Pliny, Epistles, iv. 11. 6.

Plutarch Quaestiones Romanae 96

Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator)

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Question 96.

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